President Joe Biden on Thursday celebrated the freeing of WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison, saying the U.S. will continue to press for the release of another American, Paul Whelan. Biden announced early Thursday that Russia had freed Griner in a high-level prisoner exchange. The U.S. released Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death.” But Whelan, a Michigan corporate-security executive in a Russian jail since December 2018, remains incarcerated on espionage charges that the U.S. government says are baseless. In brief remarks at the White House, Biden said Griner was “in good spirits” and on her way home. The U.S. will “never give up” in trying to free Whelan, the president said.
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